This short video is the 304 imagery from NASA SDO during the course of the past 24 hours (From Wednesday, 8 May 2013 to Thursday, 9 May 2013). From this vide…
Solar Installation Course
The Pentagon’s Battle Plan is to Go Green
Author: James William Smith
The vote was 324-84 as the United States House of Representatives recently approved legislation allowing the Justice Department to sue members of OPEC . The House bill blames OPEC for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices. In effect, it says that gas and oil prices in America are too high and that OPEC should therefore produce more product.
Of course, the vote is a study in congressional hypocrisy as many of the same members, who for decades have opposed drilling for oil and gas in various parts of the United States, voted in favor of holding OPEC accountable for not producing enough. The sad reality for the Congress of the United States is that with the price of a barrel of oil now in excess of $125 and prices at the gas pump near or above $4.00 per gallon, the American public can now clearly see the dubious consequences of not having developed a coherent long term domestic energy strategy.
There is no short term solution to this worldwide energy shortage, either. The energy requirements of rapidly developing nations have combined with a lack of alternative energy planning to initiate the perfect energy storm for the consumer. There is just not enough supply to meet increasing long term energy demand. However, this economic reality eludes the grasp of the Washington beltway politicians. So, Congress wastes its time voting to sue OPEC for not producing more oil. An action, that if ever implemented, would certainly drive the price of oil and gas even higher.
The long term solution to the energy problem is independence from the very oil and gas sources that Congress is trying to sue OPEC to provide more of. In fact, the best examples of a future path to energy independence can be seen in the initiatives that the U.S. military has been using to address its own energy consumption.
Historically, the military has been a huge national energy hog. It consumes 340,000 barrels of oil a day, or 1.5% of all of the oil used in the country. The Defense Department’s overall energy bill was $13.6 billion in 2006 (latest figure available). In fact, the Air Force’s bill for jet fuel alone has tripled to $6 billion in just the past four years.
However, the Air Force is not acting like the U.S. Congress when confronted with the spiraling cost of energy. It is actually trying to do something tangible about the problem. The Air Force has been experimenting with alternative fuels to reduce its foreign dependence on energy while reducing cost. Their plan is to create a supersonic synthetic-fuel for the B-1 bomber. The Air Force is also experimenting to make engine parts out of lighter metals, such as titanium, in order boost fuel efficiency.
Meanwhile an Air Force base called Nellis near Las Vegas has just opened one of the largest solar arrays in the U.S., a 140-acre field of 72,000 motorized panels that powers the base and sells energy to nearby communities. The Pentagon is soliciting bids for three similar arrays on other bases. Another Air Force program in Iraq is turning the trash from Air Force bases into bio fuel.
The truth is that, for the last several years, the Pentagon has sponsored various initiatives to find solutions to the increasing cost of energy. These initiatives can be seen in all branches of military services. In the Army, engineers are instructing contractors to build armored vehicles with hybrid engines. In addition, research is well under way to explore the possibility of building small nuclear-power plants on unused portions of remote army bases.
The United States military has also sponsored a futuristic plan to collect solar energy on satellites and beam it back to Earth. This space-based solar power would use solar panel arrays to gather sunlight in orbit. It would then beam power down to Earth in the form of microwaves or a laser. Energy would be collected in antennas on the ground and then converted to electricity. Unlike solar panels based on the ground, solar power satellites placed in orbit above the Earth could operate at night and during cloudy conditions.
In fact, solar-power-generating satellites could also solve supply problems in distant places such as Iraq, where fuel is currently trucked along in dangerous convoys and the cost of electricity for some bases can exceed $1 per kilowatt-hour, about 10 times what it costs in the US. This technology has the potential to provide a clean, abundant energy source and reduce global competition for oil.
The Pentagon’s battle plan to combat the ever increasing price of energy is to go green. Indeed, it is the use of American creativity and ingenuity that will solve our energy crisis in the future. The Pentagon certainly gets it. The absurd Congressional law suit against OPEC shows just how much the Washington beltway politicians do not.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/the-pentagons-battle-plan-is-to-go-green-450885.html
About the Author
James William Smith has worked in Senior management positions for some of the largest Financial Services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. Visit his website at http://www.eWorldvu.com
Just looking for some general tips on living greener, things such as solar panels, etc, that won’t cost a lot to implement? Of course, solar panels cost a fortune, but it’s an example. Thanks!
Hey Jenny,
I actually just responded to another question of yours too a few minutes ago. I’ve been reviewing “green” manuals lately and found something called “Earth4Energy” – It’s a great guide with detailed information on how to build your own solar and wind power. You can check out my full review of it @ http://renewable-energy-info.com/ – Best of luck to ya!
Does anybody know if there are any courses for solar panel installation, and/or what trades you need for this position?
hey buddy no need to go for a course or so whenever u buy a solar panel a manually comes with it with complete information on how to install a solar panel and you can always go for do it yourself things search on Google you will find the installation way however i can give a basic idea about the same like there would be two major setps one is electrically installation and second is manual also you need to know that you are going for a roof mounted panel or a ground mounted one so for starting Installing a solar panel power station is very easy. There are just a few steps you need to know. First read the information on the solar panels. The information you will require is the maximum wattage, voltage, and amps or amperes.
A solar power system will require solar panels, voltage regulator, and batteries. The most common systems are 12 and 24 volt systems. The voltage regulator needs to be rated above the maximum voltage and current(amps) of the combined solar panels. The batteries will need to be deep cycle and when combined have the capacity to provide the amp hours needed for your situation.
How to Electrically Install your Solar Panels
Each solar panel will be wired to each other in parallel if you have more then one. When you wire in parallel the amps(current) from each panel will add to the total sum of current, but the total voltage stays the same. The voltage must match the rest of your system. For example, if your are using 12 volt solar panels you must be using 12 volt batteries and voltage regulator. Voltage regulator must be rated above maximum voltage and current(amps).
Connect the output from the solar panels to a properly rated regulator, solar panel voltage regulators are rated by maximum voltage and amps, that will shut off the current flow to the batteries once the batteries are sufficiently charged there by preventing damage to the batteries.
The way that you figure the rating needed for the regulator is by adding the maximum amps for each solar panel, this should be listed on the solar panel, and if they are 12 volt panels and they are connected in parallel then max voltage should be around 22 volts. It’s the amperes that is most importance when choosing a regulator. For example, a 50 watt 12 volt solar panel will give you around 3.5 amps max output, your voltage regulator needs to be at least rated above this vcalue. Any less and your going to cook the regulator and possible damage your batteries.
Solar panels are very sturdy, it’s hard to damage them electrically. On the other hand it’s very easy to damage the regulator and batteries. Batteries can explode if connected wrong, so be carefully when working with batteries. Positive to positive and negative to negative.
hope this will help you
Planets are in solar systems, solar systems are in galaxies, and galaxies are in the universe, so what is the universe in? How can something just be here? A theory of mine is mabey the universe is God. Perhaps it is a living thing. Since nothing on earth will ever know the true answers all I can do is speculate. I personally don’t think the answers will be found by math, which was created by humans.
“The universe is nothing more than an atom of a larger thing. An atom in your fingernail could hold an entire universe in itself.”
You got that from animal hour didn’t you? When i first heard that I thought, “cool” but then I thought about it just a little harder and realized that obviously isn’t possible and if it was, what would happen when the life form our universe is an atom of dies or whatever it is part of is destroyed?
The universe means, literally, everything that exists. Asking what exists beyond the universe is like asking what continents exist outside the Earth. If we can use reason to divine it’s existence, then it is part of the universe.
People of course speculate. Anything not of this universe is termed “supernatural”. And because the supernatural can not be falsified (proven wrong), then it is not a truly scientific question. So your calling the universe ‘God’ (a philosophical thought that has existed for decades. Google “pantheism”) is purely arbitrary, faith based, unfalsifiable, and thus, not proper scientifically.
As far as knowledge, the acquisition of knowledge and search for the truth has always been sketchy, but it is hypothesized that when we unlock the secrets of consciousness, we will finally have an objective standard for the truth, and that will change our society in profound ways. Possibly, we are on the verge of understanding consciousness, as neuroscientists delve further and further into the brain, unlocking mystery after mystery, we may eventually have a full understanding of how our brain creates ideas, and we can gauge which ideas have a proper base, and which do not.
And your comment about math is conceptually wrong on so many levels it’s hard to count. Man didn’t ‘invent’ mathematics anymore than he ‘invented’ electricity (Electrons have always existed, Man simply discovered them and their uses).
Einstein once wrote that “Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe”. Of course Einstein was being metaphorical about God, but the point is that 2 + 2 = 4, no matter how many people are counting.
Even Descartes, who coined the term “I think, therefore I am” and who couldn’t be convinced that anything in the universe except his own conscious mind existed, believed that conceptual mathematics were the only universal constant, the only thing man could truly trust as existing.
I CAN’ T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOLAR WINDS AND SOLAR STORMS. AND WHAT STARTS A SOLAR STORM/WIND
The solar wind is the stream of particles and radiation continously emitted by the Sun and affects bodies in orbit around it. For example the solar wind produces magnetic and radio interactions with the Van Allen belts around the Earth.
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/sun/wind.html
It might also be used to propel a giant sail as a means of interplanetary travel some day.
http://www.electric-sailing.com/
The Sun is a very agitated body, with massive and rapidly changing magnetic fields and mass and radiation movements which can lead to violent eruptions and mass and radiation emmissions called solar storms. Coronal mass ejections can throw out tens of thousands of tons of matter in minutes, accompanied by severely increased levels of emmitted radiation. Increased material and radiation loss from storms of course adds to the solar wind, but the massively increased emmissions during storms can mess up comminications on Earth and even shut down power stations.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/14apr_3dcme.htm . . . . .
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/press/WashPost/Horizon/196l-031099-idx.html . . . . .
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,478024,00.html . . . . . .
Using the sea as an analogy, the solar wind is the like normal series of waves and swells ever present on the oceans. Seismic storms from earhquakes and volcanos generate the giant waves and tsunamis that wreak havoc where they reach land just as the massive radiation levels of solar storms do when they reach the magnetic and electrical fields around a planet like Earth.
Tsunamis are only dangerous when they reach the lower water depths off-shore and the nature of the wave is forced to change.
When they hit the land the waves are forced to give up their energy the full force of the waves is felt.
In mid ocean there is nothing to interact with and nothing to harm.
Likewise with radiation storms. It’s when they reach a magnetic or electrical field with which they interact that the harm is done.
Human aliens of course from other solar systems that mixed with Earthlings long ago to create different races and religions on planet Earth.
Perhaps we may be descendants from different planets, and there may be less than half of the people on Earth who are true blooded native Earthlings? Wouldn’t this explain a lot?
What do you think?
I have considered that humans on earth may advance technologically enough to be able to travel to planets in other solar systems and galaxies Since our Earth won’t be viable for human life forever, we will need to do that for humanity to survive.
. If that is so, then maybe we will find life forms similar to ours somewhere else in the universe.
And perhaps life somewhere else in the universe has already developed ahead of ours, and those people have had the technology to travel here.
A lot of solar hot water systems claim to also increase the value of your home but provide no real information regarding it. Who would determine this value or how might it be applied to the value of the home? If it does increase does this increase depreciate?
Yes of course it increases the value the real question is does it increase the value as much as it costs to install it. A smart Realtor might be your answer.
I was wondering how many solar cells you would need to power a small toy car. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about things like this, so if you could direct me to any websites or explain it, that would be great, thanks.(:
Well, first you need to figure out what your requirements are going to be, for example lets say 5v. Solar cells are cheap, these ones here are .55v http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062564. You see that metal strip up top? That is the – and on the opposite side that is the +. You need to solder some wire on both ends and that is kind of tedious if you are not familiar with soldering so you can always get one of these. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2131051 The wires are already soldered and it is in a nice little case too so it is protected.
The one I linked is 6v though and you need 5v (like I said earlier for example). Since solar panels do not give consistent power since it depends on how much light they get you would need a voltage regulator. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062599 That is a 5v voltage regulator, meaning no matter how much light the solar cell is receiving it will only put out 5v, unless it is getting less than 5v of course. So it might be a good idea to get two of those 6v solar cells and connect them in series (connect the + to – of the two cells so the voltage goes up to 12v). The amperage may be an issue but this will depend on the load requirement as well, if it is just a small motor those cells should work fine. Send me an email if you are curious how the voltage regulator is wired up. To recap:
1. Find out how much voltage/amperage your toy car is.
2. Buy solar cells for those needs.
3. Buy a voltage regulator for steady flow.
4. Profit, easy as that.
Price of Solar panels Vs Utility – is it really worth going for it?
The current wholesale price of solar panels from China is €0.46 per Watt peak (which means 32 Rupees per Watt peak).
http://www.enfsolar.com/cell-panel-prices
A typical panel is 250 Watt peaks. Which makes the panel €115 / 8000 Rupees. Of course buying small amounts locally will put up the price.
People normally install 2,000 to 4,000 Watt peaks on their home. Historically people install panels to get special tariffs and these haven’t really existed for homes in India. But the price of panels have dropped dramatically in recent years and they are starting to become cheap enough to be interesting without government subsidies, but payback will still be very long.
I want to setup solar panels to run 2 Air conditioner and simple lights. How much would be the approx cost in USD? I want to set it up India. If you’ve more idea about Indian market then thats better.
This means that what you would be powering with solar electricity are things like the refrigerator, the lights, the computer, the TV, stereo equipment, motors in things like furnace fans and the washer, etc. Let’s say that all of those things average out to 600 watts on average. Over the course of 24 hours, you need 600 watts * 24 hours = 14,400 watt-hours per day.
I know that a solar panel can generate 70 milliwatts per square inch * 5 hours = 350 milliwatt hours per day. Therefore you need about 41,000 square inches of solar panel for the house. That’s a solar panel that measures about 285 square feet (about 26 square meters). That would cost around $16,000 right now. Then, because the sun only shines part of the time, you would need to purchase a battery bank, an inverter, etc., and that often doubles the cost of the installation.
If you want to have a small room air conditioner in your bedroom, double everything.
If you want to just power 2 small air conditioners, your look at about $32,000 +installation
The solar tinting has become so dull and hazy.they are so hard to see through at this point.any suggestions would be appreciated.
Time to have the windows retinted it plastic film on the outside they have become weathered from age that is course if glass cleaner did not work.